After a few violent coughs, the discomfort in my throat subsided.
After she wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes, she saw Gu Rongqi squatting in front of her, holding a tissue in his hand.
Seeing that Cheng Qicai had calmed down, Gu Rongqi handed her a tissue. "Are you feeling better?"
"Okay... I've ordered." Cheng Qicai took the tissue and wiped the tears off her face.
"Excuse me, I need to wash my hands first," Cheng Qicai said to Gu Rongqi as she stood up.
Then she went to the bathroom and washed her disheveled face and hands in front of the mirror.
It wasn't that she choked on the food; it was mainly because Gu Rongqi's eyes were misty from the spiciness, which seemed to overlap with the image in her dream last night.
It was as if Gu Rongqi from the dream had broken free of the dream and was walking towards her.
That's why she lost her composure and choked on the water.
After calming herself down, Cheng Qicai returned to her seat.
"Are you alright?" Gu Rongqi asked with concern.
Cheng Qicai shook her head, "It's nothing."
"That's good. Drink your water slowly."
Cheng Qicai lowered her head and nodded. This time, she could only let the water take the blame for her choking.
Originally, the shame I felt towards Gu Rongqi had subsided considerably by today, but now it has resurfaced.
"Cheng Qicai!" Gu Rongqi called out to her.
"Mmm," Cheng Qicai replied, head bowed.
Seeing Cheng Qicai looking down at him, Gu Rongqi stared at the top of her head and apologized to her: "I'm sorry for what I said yesterday."
Cheng Qicai didn't expect Gu Rongqi to say this.
This time she raised her head and looked at him, saying, "It's not your fault. It's just my personality. It's not that I don't consider you a friend, it's just... I might not be comfortable interacting with people from a higher social class than me."
Cheng Qicai felt that her words were similar to those of yesterday, so she reorganized her words: "What I mean is, I will try my best to overcome this mentality."
Gu Rongqi stared blankly into Cheng Qicai's earnest and sincere eyes.
He thought, it would be hard for anyone to resist such sincere eyes.
He was silent for a while, then laughed and said gently, "Okay, but I thought you would tell me something like we're really not suited to be friends."
Cheng Qicai awkwardly touched her nose. "No."
Gu Rongqi remained noncommittal regarding Cheng Qicai's guilty little actions, "Then why have you been avoiding me all day?"
When Gu Rongqi pointed it out so bluntly, the chicken that Cheng Qicai had picked up almost slipped back into the sand.
She thought that he always liked to say unexpected things, and sooner or later she would have a heart attack from his words.
"No……"
Cheng Qicai wanted to deny it again, but when she met his gaze, she couldn't say anything for a moment.
"Seeing you just reminds me of what happened last night," Cheng Qicai muttered quickly.
But Gu Rongqi, who was opposite her, heard her words clearly. He didn't expect that his words last night would have such a strong impact on her.
He admitted that he did want to provoke her at the time, since she had such a thick shell.
Gu Rongqi lowered his eyes and gave a bitter smile to himself. Sometimes he really didn't know what to do with her.
Seeing that Gu Rongqi didn't respond, Cheng Qicai changed the subject, "Was the dipping sauce you ate too spicy?"
Gu Rong nodded. "A little."
"If it's too spicy, should we make another bowl of dipping sauce?" Cheng Qicai asked, looking at his lips, which were redder than usual.
"No, it's a little spicy at first, but you'll get used to it."
"Alright then." Cheng Qicai took another bowl and ladled some soup from the casserole. "Drinking some soup will make it less spicy."
"Okay, thank you." Gu Rongqi took it, slowly blew on it to cool it down, and scooped the soup into his mouth one spoonful at a time.
Cheng Qicai had been engrossed in eating, and now she was full.
Gu Rongqi looked at her stopped eating and asked, "Are you done eating?"
“Okay,” Cheng Qicai nodded, “Take your time eating, no rush.”
After Gu Rongqi finished eating, the two slowly walked back.
Cheng Qicai took out some mints from her bag and asked Gu Rongqi, who was standing next to her, "Want some?"
Seeing Cheng Qicai tilting the bottle and asking him a question, Gu Rongqi remained silent for a moment before reaching out his hand.
It's like two little kids sharing snacks when they were young.
Cheng Qicai poured a few into Gu Rongqi's hand, saying, "After eating these, your mouth won't taste like anything."
Gu Rongqi put the candy in his mouth; this time it was a watermelon-flavored mint.
She always seemed to have a different scent about her, colorful and varied, just like the one Cheng Qicai had shared with her before.
Cheng Qicai saw the subway station nearby and said to Gu Rongqi, "There's a subway station over there, I'll go over there first."
"I send you."
Knowing that Gu Rongqi disliked being rejected, Cheng Qicai nodded, "Okay, then I'll trouble you."
Gu Rongqi escorted her to the subway entrance.
"Then I'll be going now," Cheng Qicai said goodbye to him.
"Okay, take care on your way, goodbye." Only after watching Cheng Qicai's figure disappear did he turn around and return to the company.
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